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Scheduled for Friday
by Anton M.

12: Sunday

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Sunday, January 22

"Alice knows," I said the second the front door shut behind me.

My parents and I returned to the living room. We had to prepare for a day of viewing houses, but I wanted them to know that I may have fucked up.

"Knows," dad said, gripping the backrest of an armchair, "or suspects?"

"Either. Both. I didn't let her ask me anything about it, but… she accidentally saw a photo I took of Mike on set, and he's, you know. Big. Hard to argue for a small indie series with the kind of impact him refusing Christopher Nolan had."

Dad raised his eyebrows, squeezing the backrest and staring me down. Strictly speaking, I shouldn't have taken any photos on set, but I may have disobeyed a bit. Or a lot. I had more than that photo on my phone, but honestly, my parents probably knew that. They kept a keen enough eye on me that, with the amount of rules I had to follow and secrets I had to keep, they'd probably made a conscious decision at some point to allow me to take the occasional secret photograph, even if it wasn't strictly allowed. It was just such a high, finally belonging to a core group of actors on set, and I loved catching others having lunch or just leaning against the wall, immersed in a discussion.

"You need to protect those photos with a password," dad said, turning to mom. "What do you think?"

"I agree," mom said, softly. "You could delete them, but honestly, they may have cultural and historical value by now. Do you think Alice suspects Underground Memories?"

"She'd be stupid not to," I replied. "Too many things align now that she's seen who I'm working with."

"Well, frankly, I'm amazed it took her this long," dad said. "Do you remember the financial penalty for violating your NDA?"

"Twenty percent of Bella's salary," mom said, looking uncomfortably pale.

"They can also terminate my employment," I added.

"They could do that even without a violation to your NDA." Dad sat on the armchair and rested his elbows on his knees. "But I don't think they'd risk that. The role fits you like a glove and the entire world would be in outrage if they replaced either of you after the first season, whatever the reason. I'm not eager for you to take the financial hit for this but we will if we must, and either way, they'd have to prove you said something. A far bigger concern is your safety if it does get out. If Alice knows, we might have to move into a hotel for a while and stay low as we search for a more permanent home."

"If we're forced to take that step." Mom curled up on the couch. "I don't think you're giving Alice enough credit. She messed up by telling Jasper about Bella's crush, but she's also known Garrett was Bella's biological father since she was six, and we'd know if she'd ever told anyone."

Dad caressed Jake after he hopped on his lap. "Did you emphasize how important it is that Alice not tell anyone?"

"I did. Promise. I specifically said she can't tell Jasper, either, and that she could get me fired or killed if she speculated about this too soon."

"I want to tell you you were exaggerating," dad replied, hesitating. "But I'm not sure your new security detail would agree. When are you interviewing him?"

I stifled a smile at his wording. "The earliest he's available is Thursday after school."

"I'd prefer sooner but it'll have to do," dad said.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. "Can I just say, as much as I hope Alice keeps her suspicions to herself, I don't think it's the end of the world if she does slip up. There's endless red herrings about Nala and Mathys in the news, and without a clip or a teaser, I think her words would vanish in disbelief. I want to tell Tanya that I have a friend who suspects something just so they could talk to the studio and slip some well-timed but incorrect speculation out there. What do you think?"

Dad eyed me before he slapped his knees (scaring Jake into jumping off of him), stood up and held out a hand for mom to stand up as well.

"Can you believe our little human is finally making sense?"

Mom kissed dad's cheek and leaned against him. "Do you think she will solve world hunger after a few more years of watering?"

"I'm not a plant, guys."

Grinning, mom pretended to kick my butt. "We need to leave soon, sweetie. Get dressed."

"Can I drive?"

Dad put his chin on my mom's shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. "I don't know, can you?"

I lifted Jake into my lap. "I hate you both."

I could feel their eyes on the back of my head as I walked to my room, and sure enough, when I looked back, my parents were eyeing my pajama-clad self in silence, wearing soft smiles and the ever-familiar nostalgic expression of these-days-are-numbered. I kissed Jake's head, hesitating.

"I'm really happy you're my parents," I admitted quietly, feeling the thrill and the weight of the normalcy of our current life as I smiled back at them on this ordinary Sunday morning.

"I'm really happy we stole you from the hospital fifteen years ago," dad replied.

Mom's laughter followed me all the way to my room.

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